Dirty Pretty Things
by Kstewsthighs
Summary: The summer of 1987 is hot in Texas. School is over and college is still a lifetime away. Bridges will be crossed and friendships born in a summer of parties and tanning. That is until the impossible moves back across the street and bursts your perfect world. OOC. AH. Beautiful teenage angst.
1. Prologue

**This fic has already been mostly written, so it****'s just a case of uploading. I'm treating y'all to the prologue now, its short n sweet unlike the rest of the story :) Updates will be hopefully land on a Sunday unless divine intervention gets in the way.**

**Please don't get to the end of this prologue and break down. But what's a story without a little trauma, eh?**

**I****'ll be putting up a list of tracks used in the fic, mostly diabolical yet beyond awesome pop from 1987 and a few others thrown in. So get your legwarmers out and find that dusty walkman I know you still have hidden away.**

**Let's get back to the year of 1987 where the summer was hot in Texas. School is over and there****'s nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the days until college kicks in. That is until the boy you first loved moves back to town and won't go away. This is the year of livin' on prayers. This is a time when the internet exists, but no one knows what the hell it is and anyone that owns a cellular phone is a joke. This is the story of firsts and lasts. Of loves and losses. A story of forgiveness.**

_All copyrights, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, unicorns and rainbows ecetarahhhh eceterahhhh mentioned at whatever point belong to their respective owners. No copying of this work or riding on unicorns is permitted._

* * *

"**Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight**

**It must've been something you said**

**I just died in your arms tonight****"**

**Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight**

* * *

_"Edward! Edward!" My screams into oblivion are going unnoticed. My hands sweat and crack under the pressure of heat. Arms are pulling me back, dragging me away from the only place I need to be._

_Smoke chokes in my lungs, tendrils filling the air around us all. I can't see and my eyes are burning but adrenaline keeps pushing me on and on. _

_I begin screaming again, his name, over and over, as sirens fill the air only adding to the chaos around me._

_It was meant to be fun. _

_"You'll be safe, don't worry." His smile, always more beautiful than the sun, reassuring me. Nothing was safe. I couldn't believe we could be so stupid._

_So fucking reckless._

_I'm being pulled further and further away, I hear murmurs around me. Someone's trying to put a mask over my face, but I won't allow it. Kicking and punching and screaming his name over and over. They soon give up, moving onto someone else._

_I make a run for it again, this time I almost make it through the line before strong arms are wrapped around me. _

_"Don't risk it, kiddo. Please, don't." Emmett has a strong hold over me._

_And then I see her. Alice. She made it, thanks to Edward. She looks like I feel right now. I can see my own devastation written all over her. I dig my nails into Emmett__'s hands and arms, hard enough for his grip to loosen on me just for a second and throw I myself towards her._

"_You fucking did this." My hands connect with her body, slaps and thumps, over and over. "This is your fucking fault. I'll fucking kill you." I no longer care that she's my best friend. I no longer care that I have spent all of my summers loving her like a sister. I continue to scream into her face before falling to the ground, exhaustion stopping me from causing the damage I want._

_That is when defeat hits me._

_That is when I know it must be over._

_The roar of the flames and the smoke choking my lungs consumes me._

_I stay where I have fallen._

_I will stay here through rainstorms and snowstorms._

_Through hurricanes and earthquakes._

_I will wait._

_I will wait for him._

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**And breathe.**

**Let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Awesome and endless thanks to vicanlp without whom this would look like an absolute mess. You are a beautiful person.**

**All copyrights, trademarked items or recognizable characters, plots, fairy dust and sparkling vampires eccccettttarah eccccettttarah mentioned at whatever point belong to their respective owners. No copying of this work or riding on sparkling vampires is permitted.**

**Tracks alluded to:**

**Bananarama - Cruel Summer**

**Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name**

**Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right**

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"**Hot summer streets **

**And the pavements are burning **

**I sit around, trying to smile **

**But the air is so heavy and dry**

**Strange voices are saying **

**What did they say **

**Things I can't understand **

**It's too close for comfort **

**This heat has got right out of hand****"**

**Bananarama - Cruel Summer**

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The air is sickly sweet surrounding us in a blanket of warmth. I watch as the heat slowly rises from the asphalt of our street, covering everything in a slow and lazy haze. The sun beats down on my exposed skin and I cannot remember the last time I felt this happy.

Pulling my shades down I snuggle back against my lawn chair. This is the first day of freedom, the first day of a long summer that will stretch out before us all. Rifts will be bridged. Friendships formed. A never ending expanse of parties and tans before the reality of the University of Texas kicks in for me.

I smile as I think about it all. Cousin Alice arrived yesterday. She has spent every summer that I can remember staying with me and Charlie when she travels down from Michigan. Alice is never changing. I swear she must have only grown an extra foot since we were both ten. Her beauty is ethereal and where I am curvy she is slight, her long hair giving out an air of innocence I know to be far from the truth. She is the sister that I crave throughout the other seasons. She is my best friend, other than Rosalie.

And Rose is another being altogether. Sultry, with beautifully waved blonde hair. She is a seductress to everyone around us. But I know her better than that. Her looks are a barrier against a world that continues to fuck her over.

"Newton is about to have a fucking aneurysm on his lawn chair. Again."

Frowning, I look across the street, pulling my shades a little lower. Rose is right, he looks like he's about to have a major fucking freak out. I lift a hand, fingers wiggling in his direction.

"I think he just came in those tighty whites of his." I say, drawing laughs from the girls. I sip my vodka-spiked lemonade, watching as Mike tries to pretend he doesn't exist.

I lean over to one side, a hand probing for the volume on the stereo that follows us everywhere. I crank it up a little higher watching Alice bob her head to the sounds of Bon Jovi, her long hair moving in an invisible breeze with the effects of vodka becoming a little more obvious.

"Uh-oh. Ladies, the show of the century is about to begin right here on our very street." Alice squeals with delight, taking a moment to adjust her hair. She can be so fucking transparent sometimes.

I sit up, paying attention to the large rental truck stopping across the street from us. This moment had been the talk of the town for the last few weeks. You knew you came from the middle of fuck nowhere Texas when no one else had anything better to talk about than the return of the Cullen family.

I have fleeting memories of the Cullens, most of them purely snapshots of a past life. I remember Esme Cullen band aiding my knee after a fall and letting me have an oven fresh cookie to stop the tears from falling. I remember pulling at Edward Cullens hair. I remember the way he would call me grabby swan and swear he would get me back one day. But that was all I could remember. Black and white images of a boy I was in absolute awe of.

They moved away the day after Edward's eighth birthday party. I cried every night for a week, but I kept that secret to myself. I would catch snippets of conversation between Charlie and Renee over the dinner table, long before Renee went crazy and got herself locked away, changing me forever. Doctor Carlisle's brother was sick and his sons needed caring for. That was all I could make sense of.

Rumor had it Edward had been caught sleeping with his English tutor, and that's why they decided to move back here. Other people said that his cousin Jasper had been caught dealing pot in school. Either way, it was hard not to get swept up in the excitement of change along with everyone else.

All three of us watched in silence as the truck emptied of people. Esme looked as if she hadn't aged a day. The only sign was a small streak of grey hair falling down her back, blending in with her long brunette locks. But it suited her. It added a maturity that she never seemed to have before. I couldn't tell who was Jasper and who was Emmett. One of them looked like he could lift the truck with one arm and the other looked liked he belonged in some bad glam rock tribute band.

I knew it was Edward the moment he climbed out. I smiled when I noticed that his hair was almost exactly the same as I remembered. Unruly and every shade of bronze and brown that evolution could throw at a color pallet. He had grown tall but he wasn't gangly like the blonde one. Even from a distance I could tell his arms and chest were a little defined, a band t-shirt stretched tight on him. Scruffy jeans tucked roughly into an open pair of docs.

This was not the boy I remembered in my dreams. The boy who would come into kindergarten dressed up in a shirt and trousers. Sometimes Esme would give him a tie. It was almost nauseatingly cute.

I couldn't see Doctor Cullen with them. I pulled my shades back down, pretending to give off an air of complete indifference to the situation.

"I wonder if the blonde is the pot dealer? Think he'd hook us up?" I heard Alice whispering to Rose. "We could do with a little more for tonight. I don't think I can handle it without being a little loose, know what I mean?"

"They've been here all of thirty seconds and you already want them to deal to you?" I could hear the humor in Rose's voice.

"I was just saying, you know, he might need new contacts. I am a very good contact to have, thank you very much."

I let out a laugh and rolled slowly onto my stomach, allowing the sun to beat down against my exposed back. "Watch out everyone, we have our very own Pablo Escobar on our hands."

"You know what? Fuck you both. Don't come crying to me when Jessica Stanley's party sucks harder than she does and you want to get high."

Me and Rose laugh, ignoring the pout that Alice is throwing at us both. We know she would never hold back on us. Her threats are forever empty. Plus, I know where she keeps her pot stash.

"Talking of parties, I need to go home and freshen up. Laters, bitches." Rose says, getting to her feet and sauntering off towards her house three doors down from mine. Taking a chance I look over to where the rental truck is and true to form, all eyes are watching Rose cross her lawn.

Jerks.

* * *

Jessica Stanley is famous in our school for two things: her parties, and her eagerness to blow any guy that asks. And tonight is the first official party of the summer. Kids have been buzzing about it for weeks. Who will show up alone and leave with someone else. Who will be first to pass out. Who will Stanley blow this time. My monies on Eric Yorkie.

The party is already in full swing by time we were busy getting stoned in my old wendy house and totally forgot what the fucking time was.

I've thrown on my trademark look of leggings and a baggy t-shirt that hangs loosely off of one shoulder, exposing my leopard print bra. My bangs fall over my dark rimmed eyes as I survey the scene around me.

Red cups are strewn all over the Stanley's front lawn and the ground almost shakes with the sound of Beastie Boys coming from the front room. People move in and out of the house, shouting and dancing with each other. I wave at Alice and Rose, leaving them both to make my way to the kitchen. I've been left thirsty and need to find a beer. Or maybe something stronger.

"Belllaaaaaa. I'm so happy you're here!" Jessica has her arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind and I laugh, trying to release myself from her grip. "I am so fucking drunk right now." she whispers, leaning her head awkwardly against my shoulder. For a moment I can only panic that she's going to throw up down my back. I concentrate on trying to move her off of me.

"Another great party, Jess." I smile and mean it. She does throw a great party, despite being an absolute pain in the ass that I wouldn't trust even if my life depended on it.

"You really think so, Bella? I mean, I hope the new guys are having fun. That Edward is so fucking hot. Have you seen them? You have to see them." Her hand is trying to tug me into the throng of people filling the living room, but my feet stay firm. Edward is here? He moved fast for someone that had only been living back in town for the last six hours.

"I need a drink Jess, I'll catch up with you later." I make my excuses and leave but she's already moved onto annoying someone else.

I nod in acknowledgment to people shouting hellos at me from across the room. The kitchen is almost empty apart from a few couples pressing each other against the island in the middle. Jessica must have locked the bedrooms up after last time. I heard that her parents grounded her for a week after finding a used condom in one of their pillowcases. Gross.

I find three clean cups and open the cupboard beneath the sink, trying my best to ignore the porn worthy moans that are happening around me. I reach into the back, remembering where the Stanley's keep the good stuff hidden, my hand wrapping around a bottle of Jack. Helping myself to it, I push my way towards the patio doors and out into the back yard.

Alice and Rose have managed to procure three lawn seats for us. We don't like to be in the center of the party. We like to watch from a distance, making the most of the music and free booze. But there's no way any of us would be found in the house letting some skeezy fuck get their sticky hands all over us.

"My name is Bella Marie Swan, but you ladies may call me your god." I hand out the cups, pouring a generous amount of Jack into each of them. Alice looks pleased at my find, encouraging me to pour more out for her.

"Now I know what really killed the old couple down the street, it was dehydration waiting for your fucking ass to show up with a drink."

I flip Rose off, slamming back my drink fast. I fight off the choke forming in the back of my throat as it burns its way down to my stomach.

"I got accosted by Stanley. Have you seen her? She's totally wasted." Glass shatters in the distance but we don't let it penetrate our bubble. A window probably. "Her parents will kill her when they get back home."

I move my chair to get a better view through the open doors. I spy Jacob Black in the middle of a makeshift dance floor trying to walk like an Egyptian to The Bangles. Everyone around him is offering their encouragement, insisting that he continue to make a fool of himself. Drunk people fascinate me.

Minutes soon stretch into hours. The party has started to thin out and Alice is beginning to slur her words signaling that it's probably a good time for us to take the walk back home.

"I need to make a bathroom stop before we go. I'll meet you out front in a few," I tell Rose, helping her lift a wobbly Alice from her chair.

It doesn't take me long this time to move through the crowd, asit has lessened enough that I no longer need to push bodies away from mine. I inwardly cry with relief when there's no one waiting to use the bathroom.

I try not to gag at the distinct smell of vomit as I lock myself inside. It looks like a bomb has gone off in here. Toilet roll covers the carpeted floor and the bath is filled with used cups, vomit caking the tiles around it.

I go quickly, not wanting to spend another moment more than I have to in here but someone still manages to bang impatiently on the door, shouting at me to hurry the fuck up.

"I'm coming, Jesus fuck." Unlocking the door, I throw it open only to end up with Edward Cullen stumbling into me.

"Grabby Swan!"

I fight to calm down the little girl inside me who is beyond elated that he not only remembers me, but remembers that terrible nickname he gave me. And then I almost panic that I might still look like an eight year old girl to him. I push the horror at that thought to the back of my mind.

"Cullen." I nod, trying to move past him but he has me awkwardly pressed against the doorframe. I can smell the alcohol on his breath and feel his sweat through his t-shirt. It's doing uncomfortable things to my senses and I push a little harder to move away, his strong chest resisting my efforts.

"Someone said you would be here, my little grabby friend."

I start to wonder who that could have been but then decide that I really don't care who's been talking about me. His breath is hot against my ear and I am struggling not to enjoy the close proximity of his body to mine.

"I came, and now I am leaving. Just as soon as you let me."

Taking a step back, he gives me a little more space to maneuver out of the door but his green and blazing eyes stay locked on mine.

"See you around, Swan." he promises, staggering as he fumbles for the door, shutting it quietly in my face.I

I rush out to the front yard, trying to ignore what just happened. All of my nerve endings feel like they're on fire, alive with a longing that I don't understand.

Rose has Alice tucked under one of her arms and I move around to the other side, pulling her under one of mine.

"S'thanks much yous guys." Alice continues to mumble her incoherent thanks all the way back to my house. Rose offers to help me get her inside but I insist that it's fine and that she should go home.

The lights are off and I find my way upstairs struggling under her weight. I hear something fall to the floor and then see a light. Busted.

Charlie stands at the top of the stairs with a flashlight in hand shouting something about thinking we were being robbed. He leaves me to it and goes back to bed but I know it isn't over. There will be a lecture tomorrow whether I like it or not. Charlie can be pretty lenient as far as parents go, no thanks to all the shit my mom put us through, but I am still the sheriff's daughter and should know better.

I manage to get Alice into her bed, pulling off her shoes before leaving her there in the dark. She gets her own room here which used to disappoint me when we were younger so she would sneak into my bed when everyone else was asleep. But I am more grateful for the space now when the sounds of her snores follow me down the hall to my bed.

I climb in, not bothering to change out of my clothes and lie there staring at the ceiling and think about the boy with the blazing eyes and wonder what happened to the little boy in the shirt and tie.

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**Hope you enjoyed and want some more.**

**See you guys on Sunday.**


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